He looks good in white
With England failing time and time again at an international stage, could Michael Carrick have held the key to success? He has never really been able to nail down a place in the England team, often being overlooked and shunted aside to make way for Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard and Gareth Barry; a decision which continues to baffle me even today.
We have been told time and time again that the key to international (and European) football is possession. There is no better English player to Michael Carrick playing the possession game which makes it hard for me to see why he has been overlooked time and time again.
What makes a top class midfielder is all about how well they apply themselves within the role that they have been given to play. Michael Carrick is a tactical player, he plays in a disciplined role at Manchester United and in my opinion he applies himself to the role superbly game in, game out.
When in possession his primary objective is to keep possession of the ball and to simply move the ball onto the more clinical players. He sits in front of the back four and doesn’t go forward often, possibly a role likened to Sergio Busquets at Barcelona. Michael Carrick’s biggest quality is to move play from defence to attack and win the ball. Because of him, other players play better.
So why is Michael Carrick often criticised? I believe it is because he is a simple player. People are often deceived by the glamour players, the greedy players, the players who go for the spectacular when in reality they are just wasteful, wasteful in possession. Paul Scholes hit on this point a few weeks back:
“You go into the England team and you want to be part of a team that plays well, but there are individuals who are after personal glory.”
“When there is a simple pass of 10 yards, they might try and smack it 80 yards. They will do things to try and get themselves noticed, they get their big move and that is enough for them.”
Tactically it is obvious that a partnership of Gerrard and Lampard just does not work. Both players are ‘glamour players’ who like to get forward which could leave the defence exposed. Even with a player like Gareth Barry accompanying them England has failed to impress on an international stage because his passing range is virtually non-existent.
For me it is important to have players that complement each other. The 11 best players are not necessarily the best 11. World Cup winner Xabi Alonso also touched on this point in an interview he gave on 4th July 2010. He believes that one of the reasons why England fails internationally may be due to the absence of Michael Carrick.
“England missed a player like Carrick in the midfield, somebody who knows how to be in the right place at the right time.
“Gerrard gains a lot from having a player like Carrick as a partner, somebody who provides the back-up he needs to be free and bring his power to bear decisively in a game.”
I suppose Xabi Alonso could be right. Gerrard enjoyed his best period at Liverpool while playing alongside Xabi Alonso, a player whose passing is as good as Michael Carrick’s. The English mentality in recent times has been the more direct game. It’s an approach that I do not think works at an international level, especially in a summer international tournament such as the World Cup playing in the blistering heat, chasing the ball every time it is lost.
Michael Carrick in his new role
More often than not, criticism of Michael Carrick’s passing is misguided. To criticise his passing is to misunderstand the role that he now plays at Manchester United. It’s given that earlier on in his career he was allowed the freedom to play his own game in midfield however now that he plays deeper he cannot afford to play as many risky passes as he used to due to the area of the pitch he now operates in. One thing is for certain, he is still highly rated by Sir Alex Ferguson:
“Michael is one of those unassuming quiet guys, who just goes about his job and never gives the ball away. But his range of passing can win you games. He is a real Manchester United player.”
So has England missed a trick with Michael Carrick? Over the past 5 seasons, Manchester United have enjoyed one of their most successful eras in history winning 4 league titles as well as reaching 3 Champions League finals and winning it once. It is no coincidence that Michael Carrick’s presence has been long-standing in that same period. Only Patrice Evra has made more appearances for Manchester United in that time with 233 appearances whereas Michael Carrick has made 232.
Michael Carrick was most definitely ever present for Manchester United in the bigger games last season. In the home leg of Manchester United’s Champions League tie with Marseille, Michael Carrick’s pass completion rate was an incredible 93.1%. In the away Champions League tie at Stamford Bridge he bettered that with a 95% completion rate as well as playing that sublime pass to Ryan Giggs which led to Wayne Rooney’s bottom corner finish.
Michael Carrick's chalkboard vs Rangers
At times Michael Carrick was imperious in his passing. Over the two league games against Blackburn Michael Carrick attempted 202 passes, 107 of which were in Manchester United’s title winning 1-1 draw at Blacburn. In addition to this, in Manchester United’s Champions League group stage game away to Rangers, Michael Carrick completed 107/117 passes. Some could say such stats are Xavi territory.
Michael Carrick also made more forward passes in last season’s Champions League than Barcelona’s Andres Iniesta, rubbishing the myth that he only passes sideways and backwards. Michael Carrick (417), Andres Iniesta (384).
Criticism of Michael Carrick’s excessive short passing also seems very harsh. Interestingly he does not even appear in the top 10 for players who made the most short passes in the Champions League however Manchester United’s rumoured target Wesley Sneijder does. I wonder whether he would receive the same criticism if he joined?
There also appears to be a rumour going round that Michael Carrick is poor at defending and that Manchester United need to buy a midfield destroyer. I suppose the fact that no other player, except Schalke defender Benedikt Howedes, made more interceptions in last season’s Champions League puts that myth to bed too.
Surely with Michael Carrick having been such a prominent player over the past 5 years, some of our accomplishments are due to his brilliance? He is reliable, dependable and plays his role admirably. Due to the simple, unspectacular nature of his game, he often comes under much criticism, undeservedly so.
Manchester United have enjoyed great success with Michael Carrick over the past 5 seasons and his exclusion from the national side in that same period looks to be England’s loss. Michael Carrick’s game is suited to the European and International game and in my opinion he would have been a very good player for the national team had he ever been given the chance. Maybe if Michael Carrick was European he would have been appreciated more…
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This is spot on. I think Capello just realized Carrick’s ability recently as he recalled him for the match against Switzerland. It would have been interesting to see how Carrick would have changed England’s game as their midfield in that match was awful. With no England player right now having the ability to keep possession and defensive quality as good as Carrick, it will just be nonsensical if he is not given a place in the England squad next year (including the Euro)
Comparisons between Carrick and Xavi are laughable
It’s not a direct comparison, but if you read the facts, you could say that he’s right, i think that Carrick is a terrific player, underrated, with superb range of passing, remember the perfect game he had against Roma, when we smashed them 7-1, it’s all down to his excellent play, i mean ok he had a tough year in 2009-2010 where he was out of sort, but last year he was heading back to his usual standard, he’s essential for the team success, a really good technical player also, but i agree he should upgrade his defensive game, i remember the game against B.Munich when we were winning by 3 goals and carrick made such a mistake to let them struck one back just before the half, that i got mad. But then again, he improve on that last year, so yeah i’m looking forward to a partnership between him and wesley(pending…) i think our passing game will become extraordinary…the futur’s bright, the futur’s Red…
Like many other blogs have done in the past, this is a very one-sided assessment of Michael Carrick’s ability and displays. Using stats is an easy way to defend a player on paper, but what we can observe with our eyes when actually watching Manchester United play is another.
One only needs to compare the current version of Carrick with the version from his first two seasons with United to come to the conclusion that he is playing below par.
Contrary to this article, fans do not criticize Carrick because he is not glamorous, United fans criticize him because he plays well within himself. He is a sissy. It’s all fine and dandy that he has a great pass completion rate and plays more forward passes than Iniesta, the problem is Iniesta can play a killer through ball and has numerous other aspects to his game which make him a game-winner. Also, when a forward pass is a viable option, Iniesta plays it. Carrick OFTEN does NOT. This is the frustrating problem. Many times a team mate is wide open and begging to get the pass with no opponent in sight and what does Carrick do?!
That’s right, he passes it backwards.
Carrick is also prone to glaring mistakes – vs City, Valencia, Chelsea (goal almost scored from his poor pass) – and that he tends to lose simple duels with opponents. It’s nice that he makes interceptions, in fact it is also important that he does so, but what irks the fans is that for a player with his height, he is a softie. As I said earlier, he’s a sissy and his tendency to make big mistakes and his waning form after being spanked in Rome would seem to serve as evidence of this.
THAT is why the fans criticize him.
i often wonder why bloggers hold their opinion in such lofty regard and treat “the other fans” with such contempt or disdain. United fans know a good player when they see one even if he isn’t glamorous – Denis irwin for example – and we also recognise a player who constantly plays within himself and who plays it safe. Michael Carrick is such a player and what is worse is that we know Carrick can do better, but he hasn’t.
So please stop quoting stats when defending Michael Carrick, they do not tell the whole story. Carrick is not as good as Alonso. He could be, but he isn’t.
How do stats not cover the story? You are saying he is a sissy, do you reckon Fergie thinks that playing him as our holding midfielder and Carrick making all them interceptions. The game has moved on, you were probably impressed with Scholes diving in everywhere but he wasn’t as good at defending as Carrick by a long way but he caught the fans eye. The truth is most fans don’t know what theyre talking about and don’t understand what they’re watching. This article says the only player to have played more than Carrick in the last 5 years or whatever it was is Evra. That means if Carricks fit, Carrick plays. If you are disagreeing with this article then you are disagreeing with the most successful club manager of all time. The stats do cover the story and they prove that Carrick gets so much stick because he doesn’t catch the fans eye and not because hes not a good player.
Joe W – your reply shows that you have the mental maturity of a 5 year old. I deal with stats and reports as part of my work all the time. Stats tell only half the story or less unless you have ALL the stats and even then, depending on what you what the end results to say, you can use the appropriate stats to embellish the story.
Michael Carrick plays a lot of games – that just means he’s reliable and that he is. Did I say otherwise? Did I say he was unreliable? No!
Learn to read buddy.
In fact why don’t you read my reply again and see if you can comprehend it? Carrick is a reliable player who is prone to glaring mistakes and who often plays within himself. Are you going to argue that his lapse of concentration didn’t cost us goals vs City and Valencia? (you can’t by the way, because they did)
And also – just think back to the quarter-final showdown against Bayern where Ollic floored him with ease before going on to score.
Trust me, if there were a better mid at United, Fergie would be playing him ahead of Carrick.
@ Alonso ur reply tells me ur a f@#kin knob
Sorry but don’t agree with much of this at all and I can’t believe that you actually watch Carrick much because if you did you would know that up against top opposition who continually put the midfield under pressure, i.e. the likes of Barca, Carrick is the biggest liability in the team – he has to have time and space to express his alleged ‘vision’ but harry him and all he does is give the ball away or put it into touch.
Surely England, let alone United, should be looking for players with REAL quality, Carrick is a decent player at best but one of the most overrated around. I have to agree with Alonso that United fans don’t like Carrick because he isn’t glamorous, its because he doesn’t give enough – the times that he has (Roma 7-1) he’s looked like a world beater but those kind of performances are far and few between from him unfortunately.
“Michael Carrick plays a lot of games – that just means he’s reliable”
Just means? John O’Shea is reliable. Why doesn’t he get the games?
“Carrick is a reliable player who is prone to glaring mistakes”
How is a player prone to glaring mistakes reliable? You aren’t talking sense.
Carrick is reliable most of the time and then he goes and makes big mistakes when he’s put under pressure. It’s ok. I suspect the author is posting comments under different aliases.
Shit article using stats to demonstrate one side of a player’s performance, totally neglecting he’s glaring mistakes and weakness in duels. Also couldn’t grab the game by the scruff against lower league opposition in cup ties, but let’s not mention that.
carrick is a great player no doubt…but these stats are only of the champions league…he’s not that kind of a rough player…and there’s also a limit to his creativity..
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Fantastic article and one I totally agree with….Yet again we have gone with the old but not so trusted midfield.I hate Barry and I am sure in 2008 Xavi said, “You stop Carrick, you stop Manchester” Just a thought!
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